War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy [542]
Only when Bennigsen came into the cottage did Kutuzov stir from his corner and move towards the table, but only so far, so that his face would not be lit by the candles that had been placed on it.
Bennigsen opened the council with the question: “To abandon Russia’s sacred and ancient capital without a fight, or to defend it?” A long and general silence ensued. All faces frowned, and in the silence Kutuzov’s angry grunting and coughing could be heard. All eyes looked at him. Malasha also looked at Grandpa. She was closest to him of all and saw how his face winced; it was as if he was about to cry. But that did not last long.
“Russia’s sacred and ancient capital!” he suddenly began in an angry voice, repeating Bennigsen’s words and thereby indicating the false note in those words. “Allow me to tell you, Your Excellency, that this question has no meaning for a Russian.” (He heaved his heavy body forward.) “Such a question cannot be posed, and such a question has no meaning. The question for which I have asked these gentlemen to meet is a military one. The question is this: Russia’s salvation lies in the army. Is it more advantageous to risk losing the army and Moscow by accepting battle, or to surrender Moscow without a battle? That is the question on which I would like to know your opinion.” (He heaved himself back in the armchair.)
A debate began. Bennigsen still did not consider the game lost. Allowing for the opinion of Barclay and others about the impossibility of accepting a defensive battle at Fili, he, imbued with Russian patriotism and love for Moscow, suggested shifting the troops during the night from the right flank to the left, and striking at the right wing of the French the next day. Opinions were divided, there were arguments for and against this opinion. Ermolov, Dokhturov, and Raevsky agreed with Bennigsen’s opinion. Whether guided by a sense of the need for sacrifice before abandoning the capital, or by other more personal considerations, these generals seemed not to understand that the present council could not change the inevitable course of events, and that Moscow had already been abandoned. The rest of the generals understood that, and, leaving aside the question of Moscow, spoke of the direction the army should take in its retreat. Malasha, who looked at what was happening before her without taking her eyes away, understood the meaning of this council differently. It seemed to her that it was a matter only of a personal struggle between Grandpa and “Long-skirts,” as she called Bennigsen. She saw that they were angry when they spoke to each other, and in her heart she took Grandpa’s side. In the middle of the conversation, she noticed a sly glance that Grandpa cast at Bennigsen, and after that, to her joy, noticed that Grandpa had said something to Long-skirts that took him aback: Bennigsen suddenly turned red and angrily paced about the cottage. The words that had so affected Bennigsen were Kutuzov’s opinion, expressed in a calm and soft voice, on the advantages and disadvantages of Bennigsen’s suggestion about shifting the troops during the night from the right flank to the left for an attack on the French right wing.
“Gentlemen,” said Kutuzov, “I cannot approve of the count’s plan. Shifting troops in close proximity to the enemy is always dangerous, and military history confirms this consideration. Thus, for example…” (Kutuzov seemed to ponder, searching for an example, and looked at Bennigsen with a bright, naïve gaze.) “Yes, let’s just take the battle of Friedland, which, as I believe the count remembers well,2 was…not entirely successful, only because our troops were re-formed in much too close proximity to the enemy…” A moment’s silence ensued, which seemed very long to all of them.
The debate began again, but there were